The 15 Coolest holiday gifts for kids

Michele Borboa, MS is a freelance writer and editor specializing in health, fitness, food, lifestyle, and pets. Michele is a health and wellness expert, personal chef, cookbook author, and pet-lover based in Bozeman, Montana. She is also...

Holiday gifts for kids, tweens & teens

If your holiday gift list includes kids of all ages, we’ve got the perfect holiday gift solutions for you. Whether you need a cool teen-friendly gift for your nephew, trend-setting interactive toys for toddlers or a variety of girl-centric gifts, these 15 holiday gift ideas will give you all the gift-buying guidance you need.

Tony Hawk: Shred

Bringing the skate action to the big-screen TV, godfather of skateboarding Tony Hawk offers this latest version of the No. 1 best-selling action-sports video game series, Tony Hawk: SHRED, which allows kids to "GO BIG" and feel the exhilaration of skate and snowboarding like the pros using the game's innovative motion-sensing board controller right at their feet. The game fits seamlessly into the active gaming trend and allows gamers of all skill levels to literally step on the board and play! The game also features pro skaters Corey Duffel, Sean Malto, David Gonzalez, Geoff Rowley, Stevie Williams and Chaz Ortiz as well as pro riders Travis Rice, Louie Vito and Torah Bright. SHRED is available for the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

LOOPZ Game

This is another interactive game that will get your kids moving while also challenging their memory and reaction time. LOOPZ is the newest memory game that uses music and light patterns that players must follow in order to keep the music sequence going. An internal counter keeps track of time and completed levels, and rates overall performance. Offering seven different games, LOOPZ can be played solo or in competition with others.

Last Word board game

For the know-it-all tween, Last Word pits player against player to quickly come up with words that start with whatever letter is drawn, until the timer goes off. To make it more challenging, the timer has been programmed to go off at random intervals, giving everyone a chance to have the last word.

Stinky the Garbage Truck

Your kids will be cleaning up with Matchbox's Stinky the Garbage Truck. Stinky comes to life as a bona-fide garbage truck that can be driven, loaded and dumped, as well as talk, tell jokes, ask questions, eat, sing, snore and get attention with unexpected movements. This is a toy that provides hours of interactive entertainment.

Bigfoot the Monster

At the top of many top 2010 Christmas gift lists, BIGFOOT, an Imaginext creation, is an interactive remote-controlled monster with lots of entertaining personality. Your child can make BIGFOOT walk forward and backward, change his moods, sleep, throw a ball, exercise and even do a back flip, all while the engaging monster talks or makes a variety of sounds. Your child will be the coolest – and perhaps most legendary – in the neighborhood with BIGFOOT at his side.

Dance Mickey

For some retro yet wildly popular fun, give your child Dance Mickey, an interactive toy from Fisher-Price, that will get the whole family dancing and singing. Not only does Dance Mickey have his own uber-groovy moves, including the moonwalk, disco, Latin, techno and mambo, he also talks and sings. Watch Mickey Mouse come to life as he gets your child interested in talking back to him, singing and dancing. This is a great way to incorporate physical activity into your child's daily fun.

Leapster Learning Game: Scholastic Get Puzzled

Another winner from LeapFrog, this interactive toy has more than 300 games that teach logic, reasoning, language and problem-solving skills. Kids ages 5 to 8 can guide spaceships, build bridges, create monsters, find words in a letter grid, identify pictures, spell words, and use math skills. Parents can even follow their child's play and learning progress on the LeapFrog Learning Path.